It's March 8th, which means that we get to celebrate freedom, and what's more - women that have given us that freedom.

But...Are they honored all over the world? Are they celebrated equally all around this big planet we inhabit?

Not in my country, unfortunately.

In Russia, this day is celebrated as something "traditional": the wishes women get on that day are the same every year - be beautiful, be gentle, make men around you happy, etc.

Something that would totally make someone aware of this holiday's history vomit or crash the fuck out.

Who twisted the history of International Women's Day?

The government. Of course it's them.

And they continue telling us that the origins of this day don't matter, they ingrained it into our brains so deeply that even some women of my generation - Gen Z, which claims to be progressive and smart, and all that shit - openly say that "feminists are ruining the holiday for them" because we talk about this day being the day of women fighting for our rights.

Our basic human fucking rights.

The government did this to us, and they continue doing this - by broadcasting some seemingly cozy and comfy TV shows with a sprinkle of propaganda in them, by telling us that men should make us pregnant "as a gift"...

Because for the entirety of these people, women are still "mothers and wives" first.

They do this to women because they're scared, but don't want to admit that.

Scared of what, exactly?

Strikes, maybe. Like the one in Petrograd in 1917.¹ They just don't want us to be politically conscious, because a politically conscious citizen would know that the government is the problem.

And a politically conscious citizen would protest against said problem.

Plus, the patriarchy in general made a lot of Russian women view feminism as something bad, which exists solely as an excuse to hate men. I remember being poked like that by my literature professor, who was a woman, and she outright told me to not use the word "feminist" because it's "too radical".

The second case was with my current English professor, who told me that me talking about women's rights was "talking smack about men as if they don't suffer as well"

And yes, I feel like the government does play a huge role in this. Women being scared to appear "too radical". Women thinking that fighting for their rights means stripping others of their humanity.

For them, if a woman is strong, she's scary.

For them, if a woman has an option to refuse, she's scary as well. Why?

Because she doesn't contribute to the regime.

Because she teaches other women not to do it. Because she teaches other women to say no, to make a choice of sending her son to university for training as a linguist, interpreter...instead of making him sign a military contract and go to another country to bomb its people.

Because she chooses safety and peace over blind compliance.

They want women to comply.

We won't.

Because we want to have a world to live in, opportunities to study, work, etc.

Because we want to be safe.